Charles Simic, American Poetry, and Serbian Critical Reception

Headnote

A Serbian-born American poet, Charles Simic (1938) has been a staple of both American and Serbian poetic scenes for decades, though for different reasons. The paper examines the reception of Simic's work in Serbian criticism, offering commentary on the translation of his poetry and its critical interpretation. Though Simic is undoubtedly part of American literary canon, and his work is informed by Modernist and Postmodernist American authors such as Williams, Stevens, or Ashbery, Serbian criticism has until very recently focused only on his origin and on the influence of his birth country on his work. By giving an overview of Simic's major thematic and tonal elements placed within an American context, supported by numerous examples from his poems, we position him firmly within the American poetic tradition, while at the same time pointing out some elements of Serbian poetry relevant for his poetic development, like the influence of Popa, Tadić and Ristović. Shining a historical light on the reception of Simic's poetry in Serbia, we uncover both the political and poetic reasons for the confusing inclusion of this American poet within Serbian culture.

Keywords: American poetry / Simic, Charles / literary reception / literary influences / Serbian literature / translations to Serbian

Ključne besede: ameriška poezija / Simic, Charles / literarna recepcija / literarni vplivi / srbska književnost / prevodi v srbščino

Charles Simic (1938), ameriški pesnik srbskega rodu, že desetletja velja za pomemben del tako ameriške kot srbske pesniške scene, vendar iz različnih vzgibov. V tem članku bomo obravnavali recepcijo Simicevega dela v srbski kritiki, in sicer s preučitvijo prevodov njegove poezije in njeno kritiško interpretacijo. Čeprav Simica nesporno štejemo za avtorja ameriškega literarnega kanona, saj so na njegovo ustvarjalnost vplivali ameriški modernisti in postmodernisti (npr. Williams, Stevens ali Ashbery), se je srbska kritika še nedavno usmerjala predvsem v njegove rodovne korenine in njihov domnevni vpliv na njegovo delo. Po pregledu Simicevih poglavitnih tematskih in kompozicijskih elementov v ameriškem kontekstu ga lahko nedvomno umestimo v ameriško pesniško tradicijo, a obenem ni mogoče spregledati elementov srbske poezije, odločilnih za njegov pesniški razvoj, denimo vplivi Pope, Tadića in Ristovića. Kronološki pregled recepcije Simiceve poezije v Srbiji omogoča prepoznanje političnih in poetoloških razlogov za vključevanje tega ameriškega pesnika v srbsko kulturo.

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